Ms Malfoy and Mr Granger
by appledapplesauce
Summary: draco and hermione change sexes when a spell goes wrong. they both instantly become the newest heartthrobs in Hogwarts. despite all the kerfaffle going on, will they still manage to find love? read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- A Spell Gone Wrong**

Draco Malfoy sat in his Head Boy's dorm, trying for what seemed to be the hundredth time a complicated, switching spell that Professor Flitwick had taught earlier at Charms.

_Damn that little pipsqueak of a Professor! _He sighed. It seemed like he would never get this spell right. Unless…

Never! He would never ask that snobby bookworm for help. Hell would have to freeze over first.

He was sure that this spell was bound to come up in their NEWTs. He would never get anything done at the rate he was going. He sighed, getting up to go to the Head's Common Room where he knew Hermione was. _Maybe hell _has_ frozen over_.

Hermione Granger had changed over the summer between sixth and seventh year. Her frizzy, unmanageable hair had gotten somewhat tamer, flowing in loose ringlets down her back. She had developed curves in all the right places that even Draco Malfoy couldn't ignore.

He stood behind her, trying to get her attention. When she continued to ignore him, he coughed.

"What is it this time, Malfoy?" Hermione asked exasperatedly, not taking her eyes off her book, her back to him.

"Well … uhm, I was wondering if you could sorta help me with the switching charm Flitwick taught us."

Hermione turned around slowly, looking incredulous.

"_The_ Draco Malfoy, asking for help from a lowly person such as myself?" Hermione said mockingly.

"Well, I can't be perfect in everything now, can I?" Draco said, smugly.

Hermione snorted. The ass was so full of himself, she wondered how he managed to fit food and drink in himself as well. "Fine," she grumbled, wondering if she was going to regret what she was about to do. "I'll help you."

Draco was shocked. He wasn't _really_ expecting Hermione to help him. He probably just came here to annoy her.

Twenty minutes later, the two teens still weren't making any progress with the advanced charm that would make whatever it hit turn into something it was the complete opposite of. Hermione had mastered the spell in their earlier Charms classroom, where she had made a rock turn soft and a wooden chair turn metal.

"Malfoy, the trick is in the wrist movement," Hermione explained patiently "upwards, then a sudden downwards jerk."

Draco ran his ands through his hair frustratedly.

"Argh, I'm trying, alright?" he said, looking up from the glass of water he was aiming for. "_Reversi_," he said, not really looking at his target. Miraculously, the spell worked. Unfortunately, the spell did not hit the water _inside_ the glass, but instead hit the glass the water was in.

The glass and water acted like some sort of spectrum, splitting the orange beam of light in two and hitting both Hermione and Draco squarely in the chests.

The last thing Draco remembered before he passed out was looking into Hermione's warm, chocolate brown eyes.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Draco woke up, trying to blink the dazzling rays of sunshine that were frying his eyes away. He looked around. Lying not two feet away from him was a tall, slightly muscular boy with wavy brown hair, apparently still fast asleep. _What a hunk!_

Draco mentally shook himself. Where did that thought come from? It sounded like something a _girl_ would say er, think. Suddenly, all of the past night's events came flowing suddenly into his brain. _Oh. My. God._

He immediately rushed to the nearest mirror, feeling something particularly bouncy on his chest while he ran, his robes and trousers feeling too long.

When he finally got to the floor length mirror that hung on one of the walls, he gasped. Staring right back at him was a girl with pearly white skin, straight, silky, shoulder length hair and light grey eyes.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione sat up, her back aching from sleeping on such a hard surface. Wait a minute, why exactly was she sleeping on such a hard surface anyway? Then, she remembered what happened last night. She gasped.

The reverse charm had never been tested on a human before. Hermione didn't now what the effect could possibly be. She was soon to find out.

She got up, noticing that the ground seemed to be further away than it usually was and that her hair wasn't getting into her eyes, unlike what it usually did. Her chest was very flat, no sign of her boobs anywhere.

_I need to get to a mirror!_

She looked wildly around, and noticed for the first time the blonde girl who was currently examining herself in the mirror. _Yes! A mirror!_

She ran towards the mirror and felt something swinging between her legs while she did. She stood beside the girl. Hmmm, that girl looked sorta familiar.

"Malfoy?"

"Granger?"

They both looked very shocked. Draco made a very pretty girl while Hermione made a very strapping lad.

"This is just great, what are we going to do now?" Draco whined.

"I should be the one complaining here you know," growled Hermione "it was you who got us into this mess in the first place." she said, jabbing Malfoy in the chest. It was soft.

"Owww," whined Malfoy again "that hurt, you know, I've got these now," he said, cupping both his breasts.

"That's just indecent," Hermione said making a face "we'll have to see if any of my bras fit you."

"They won't," said Draco smugly "_mine _are obviously bigger than yours were."

After much squabbling, Draco finally let himself be led into Hermione's neat and tidy room to try on some clothes.

"No peeking!" Draco said, marching to the other side of the room.

Luckily for him, Hermione's clothes, underwear and all, fit him just right.

"Eurgh, Granger," he said, when he had looked at Hermione's wardrobe. "I am _so_ going shopping next Hogsmeade weekend for some clothes."

Hermione snorted. Draco had not been a girl for one day and he was already acting like Parvati and Lavender.

After donning some of Draco's clothes that thankfully fit her well, Hermione noticed Draco staring at her for some reason.

"What're you looking at, Malfoy?" said Hermione, who, unlike Draco, was not used to girls ogling at her. She turned around and felt herself examine Draco's body.

_Hmmm, not bad. Draco actually looks pretty hot_. She gasped out loud when she realized what she was saying. Although she admitted to herself that Draco looked pretty handsome in his male form, she was definitely not going to check out a girl, which proved to be very hard un this situation.

"Nothing," Draco stammered, turning pink "Anyway, what are we gonna do about this?" he asked, gesturing to his and Hermione's bodies.

"Well," said Hermione thoughtfully, not noticing how Draco had just abruptly changed the subject "I suppose the best thing we can do now is to ask Professor Dumbledore for help."

Draco snorted. "That old fart?"

Hermione glared at him. If looks could kill, Draco would be dead ten times over by now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- Day One**

Since it was rather early, the walk from the Head's Dorms to the Headmaster's Office proved to be rather uneventful, which was lucky for both Draco and Hermione.

Draco, who was having a hard time keeping up with Hermione's longer and more powerful strides was pouty and huffy the whole trip. _Dumbledore'd better have a cure for this damn situation, I can't stand all these girly thoughts popping into my head! And I better get some sexy lace bras from Hogsmeade, all Granger has is cotton… Arghh! There I go again!_

Hermione walked faster when she heard Draco let out another sniff behind her. She had given up trying to be patient with Draco a long time ago. Draco was being a real pain in the ass; he even tried blaming Hermione for the mess that they had landed in. _That Draco, how dare he blame me? I just can't understand women… hang on, what am I thinking? I am a woman… I just turned into a man. This is so confusing. I hope Dumbledore can fix this._

Hermione abruptly stopped ranting in her head. They had reached the entrance of Dumbledore's office. Since the Heads were updated on the passwords for everything that needed passwords, they were soon standing in front of a heavy oak door fastened with a brass knocker. Draco knocked.

"Enter."

They entered the large, circular room with all of their fingers crossed behind their backs. Draco even considered crossing his eyes but decided it was rather unladylike.

Dumbledore looked up to see two unfamiliar but at the same time familiar students looking at him hopefully.

"Please sit down. How may I help you, Mr. and Ms-"

"Granger and Malfoy sir," piped up Hermione, speaking for her and Draco. She continued to tell the whole unfortunate tale and when she had finished, Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye. Could it be amusement?

"I really wish I could help, Mr. Granger and Ms. Malfoy," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling "but as you know, this spell has never been done on humans and knowing that it hasn't, there is no known cure. The best we can do is to wait and see if the spell wears off. As to your er, different way of thinking, I can guess that as your bodies were altered, so were your brains and your way of thinking."

Draco and Hermione exited the Office, their little bubble of hope burst and their faces long. They looked rather comical.

Since they had spent a fair amount of time in Dumbledore's office discussing the situation at hand, almost everybody in the castle was up and about, heading down for breakfast.

As Draco and Hermione passed, everybody stopped to point, stare, whisper and gossip about the "new" students.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

When Draco entered the Great Hall, he was greeted by catcalls and wolf whistles. Lapping up all the attention, he went to the Slytherin Table to sit in his usual spot between Crabbe and Zabini.

When he settled himself comfortably in his spot, he turned to talk to Blaise but found that Blaise was staring at him with his mouth hanging open, quite incapable of speech. _Moron._ _But a very cute moron…Ahhh! Enough with the girly thoughts already!_

Blaise cleared his throat. "Erm, who exactly are you?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Draco smacked himself on the forehead. For a moment, he had forgotten that he was now wearing a bra and panties. Just as he was opening his mouth to explain to Blaise what had happened, Dumbledore rose from his seat, tapping his fork with his glass, clearly, he was about to say something.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione entered after Draco went swaggering inside, hoping that she was not going to attract as much attention as Draco did. No such luck.

Fortunately though, unlike perverted boys, girls do not tend to catcall and whistle when a hunk crosses their path. Instead, they gossip and giggle. In a way, it is also rather unfortunate.

Whilst Hermione was walking towards her reserved seat between Ron and Harry, she passed between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff's House Tables. Girls from both houses (mostly Hufflepuff) whispered stuff like "Hey, gorgeous" or "I've got no plans for tonight" as she passed. One ditzy yet feisty Hufflepuff blond even slapped her butt. The guys, on the other hand, glared at Hermione for stealing the attention of their girlfriends.

So, when she reached her spot between Ron and Harry, she breathed a sigh of relief. _At last, some sane people._

However, when she _did_ sit down between them, Ron said menacingly "That seat's taken." Hermione groaned inwardly, exasperated with herself. While she was in the company of her two best friends, she had forgotten that she was a guy.

"Relax, Ron, I'm Hermione."

"No you're not," retorted Ron, growing steadily redder. "Hermione's a girl."

Hermione rolled her eyes. _Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious._ She was still slightly knackered by the incident back in fourth year when Ron had forgotten that she was a girl. "Ask me something that only Hermione would know then."

"Fine. What color was I trying to change Scabbers into on the Hogwart's Express then?"

"Yellow." Hermione thought this answer would satisfy Ron and calm him down. She was dreadfully mistaken.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE REAL HERMONE!" Ron yelled, making everyone in the Great Hall look at him.

Just then, Dumbledore stood up tinkling his glass.

"As all of you may have noticed," Dumbledore began, sweeping his eyes over the Great Hall, stopping for a fraction of a second on Ron "both of our Head Students are missing this morning." The aforementioned students let out sighs of relief. At least Dumbledore was saving them the trouble of explaining to the entire school what had happened.

When Dumbledore finished speaking, every head was turned either to Hermione or to Draco.

Ron grinned apologetically at Hermione.

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said in response, sitting down.

Blaise, on the other hand, was having trouble contemplating what Dumbledore had just said. "Y-You're Draco? B-But you're so uhm," he stuttered

"Hot?" said Draco arrogantly "I know. I suppose since I was hot when I still had eggs makes me hot now that I don't." Apparently, being big-headed was another thing that hadn't changed.

When Blaise had finally overcome his stuttering phase and had returned to being suave and charming, he started flirting with Draco.

_My best friend is flirting with me. What do I do? Should I flirt back? How do I flirt with a guy? Should I flirt with a guy? I am a girl after all. A guy never gets to be a girl anytime in his life. I should make the most of it._

Draco decided that he would flirt back with Blaise. Although in his mind, he was doing it to "make the most of it," the real reason was because being the girl that he was; he really just wanted to flirt back.

He looked at Blaise. From a girl's point of view, Blaise was cute. Then, he had never understood why girls flirted with Blaise. Now he could see why.

Blaise was a natural lady charmer but he was also known as a heart breaker. Draco was just flirting with Blaise for the fun of it. He didn't want to change back into a guy and find out that he had kissed his best friend or anything. That was just gross.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

In class, Hermione was having trouble paying as much attention as she usually did. In the end, she gave up pretending that she wanted to take notes instead of _passing_ notes with Ron and Harry.

Once it had finally sunk in both of their heads that Hermione was a guy, Ron and Harry found out that it wasn't such a bad thing. In their opinion, the male Hermione had both good and bad points.

The good point was that she loosened up around them more and wasn't as prissy.

The bad point was, even though Ron and Harry would never admit it, that it seemed that in one morning, she had stolen if not the hearts, then the eyes of their fan clubs and almost every female in Hogwarts.

Hermione had decided that since she was going to be a guy for a while, she might as well be a real guy.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Draco was discovering the benefits of being a girl through the day. So, instead of listening to Binns like he ought to have been doing during History of Magic, he opted instead to list down the benefits of being a girl.

_people can't kick me in the balls, although being pinched on the nipples hurts just as much._

_Parkinson cannot flirt with me, although now Blaise is._

_I don't have to pee standing up._

_I have longer hair._

In his opinion, being a girl wasn't so bad (even though he was yet to get used to his bra).

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

That night, after cleaning out Draco's room (she was still a neat freak) which was now hers since it was a boy's dorm, she decided that she needed to take a shower.

When she entered Draco's bathroom, she gasped. It was obvious to anyone who came into his bathroom that he was a very vain person. It was also obvious that he had magically enlarged the already huge bathroom to twice its size.

Hermione walked over to a cabinet marked "Toiletries". She pulled open the doors of the said cabinet.

_I never knew that he was ten times the self absorbed prat that I thought he was._

Inside the cabinet were rows upon rows of men's shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, shaving cream, bath salts, shower gel, deodorant, face cream, even a small, unused tube of zit cream. _No wonder he makes such a girly girl. He has enough to make a beauty parlor for men!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- "I'm dying!"**

Draco entered the Head Girl's Dorm and immediately went to the bathroom, deciding that he needed a good, hot, long shower after such a long day.

When he stepped inside the bathroom, he looked around with distaste at the small bathroom and lack of extravagant furnishings.

_Ugh. I thought Granger had more taste than this. Note to self: buy beauty products at Golden Beauty's House of Toiletries next Hogsmeade weekend, not that I'm not beautiful enough, I just love spending money. _

He headed to the toilet bowl, as he needed to take a whiz.

_At least I don't need to stand anymore._

The next moment, he let out a bloodcurdling scream that would outdo a banshee's

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione rushed into the bathroom, her wavy hair still damp and her skin moist from the shower she had just taken. She walked in to find Draco on the floor, unconscious.

_Oh my God! What happened here?_

She walked closer, her knees and hands trembling shakily to inspect what had happened to Draco. When she did, Draco's thickly lashed grey eyes fluttered open.

"Hermione?"

Hermione breathed out a breath she had not known she was holding. At least Draco was well enough to talk. _Why am I so worried anyway? It's not like I have feelings for him or anything… do I?_

"Hermione, I think I'm dying," Draco said "There's- there's b-blood everywhere. I'm gonna die from loss of blood and when I do-"

"Hang on Draco," Hermione said. She had just glimpsed the blood in the toilet bowl and had started to see sense in the situation.

"I'm starting to-to s-see the light," Hermione rolled her eyes. Trust Draco to be overly dramatic.

"Draco, listen,"

"I can hear the chorus of the angels and their harps-"

"Draco-"

"I-I'm fading from this world-"

"Draco,"

"The pearly gates of Heaven await me-"

"DRACO MALFOY, WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONE SECOND!"

Draco looked at Hermione, looking hurt. "I'm about to d-die and this is how you treat me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're not about to die, you idiot, you're having what every girl experiences monthly, you're going having you're period."

Draco looked at Hermione blankly. The crickets on the Hogwarts grounds chirped loudly. Crick, crick, crick.

Hermione proceeded to explain to the clueless Draco what every woman had to go through every month.

By the end of Hermione's explanation, Draco was flabbergasted.

"You mean _every_ woman goes through this?"

Hermione nodded.

"Even-even my mommy?"

Hermione fought to keep her face straight when Draco said "mommy". She didn't know that he was such a mamma's boy.

Hermione rummaged around in one of the cabinets in her bathroom and finally found what she had been looking for; a small, pink package.

She gave it to Draco.

"That," she said, pointing to the package in Draco's hand "is a sanitary napkin. You'll need to change it every three hours or so. Put one on now."

When Draco emerged from the bathroom a while later, he looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I hate this. I feel like I have a mattress between my legs! I'll waddle like a duck tomorrow and everyone'll laugh at me." He glared at Hermione, as if all this was her fault.

She looked at him smugly. "Now you can appreciate how hard girls' lives are. At least now that I'm a man," she said, thumping herself on the chest "I don't have to worry about having periods, wearing bras, combing my hair, or being a girl in general."

Draco was feeling surly, as he was going through a mood swing that having a period brought about.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The next morning, a very sour faced Draco walked to breakfast alone, deducting points for the pettiest reasons, as Hermione had not broken her habit of waking up early.

If you would compare Draco's face to a fruit, that fruit would be a lemon.

When he got to the Slytherin Table, Blaise greeted him in an oily voice that he tended to use around pretty girls or "hot chicks" as he called them.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Draco glared at him. "Shut the hell up, Zabini. I'm not in a good mood so unless you want to ever be able to reproduce, shut your slimy mouth."

Blaise was affronted._ She's acting more like the Draco I know._

"Okay, okay. You don't have to bite my head off, you know. I just wanted to remind you that we have Quidditch practice at ten."

"WHAT!"

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione was ambling around the Hogwarts grounds. Having breakfasted early, she was idling the extra time she had between breakfast and her first subject, Potions.

Suddenly, a very distraught looking Draco burst out of the Great Hall.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed when he saw her, suddenly looking relieved.

"What?"

"We have Quidditch practice today." Draco had been made captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team and had made it a point to practice his team whenever he could.

"So?"

"So! So I can't sit on a narrow broom handle with blood spewing out of me!"

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Ten minutes later, Draco walked to the Quidditch pitch, his robes slipping off his shoulder because they were too loose for him. Now, however, he felt more comfortable and was more cheerful.

_Why couldn't've Hermione given me these tampon thingies earlier?_

As he got closer to the Quidditch Pitch though, his mood slowly dampened.

_Stupid Quidditch! Why'd I sign up in the first place? It's not as if it's all that fun. Plus, it's way too dangerous! I could get seriously injured. My perfect features are on the line here!_

When he got to the changing rooms, his all male team was already assembled there, waiting for him.

When he was still a man, Draco had severely punished slackers and late comers. As a result, his team always made it a point to get there on time. Now that he wasn't, however, he couldn't care less whether his team showed up for practice or not.

When he entered the room, they all looked up attentively at him, waiting for his usual pre-practice pep talk where he would point out all the players' weak points and threaten them to do something about it.

"Well, uhm, er, I think that uhm, we are…the best team Hogwarts has ever seen. Yeah. And, uhm we will win this cup thing." Draco said lamely.

His team looked confusedly at him. Now that their Captain was a girl, e seemed slightly less…evil.

"So let's go and do what we usually do at practice."

All in all, the practice was a disaster. At first, Draco refused to mount his broom, realizing too late that he was now scared of heights.

"Go on, Draco, just mount your broom," Blaise said, trying to coax Draco into flying.

"No way, Jose! I'm scared of heights. Plus, how can I be sure that once I'm flying up there, you perverts won't try to look up my skirt?"

After that, when they had finally managed to convince Draco that he wasn't going to fall to his death and that they weren't going to look up his skirt (although Blaise was actually planning to), he had refused to move faster than a snail, all the while petrified of looking down, even though he was hovering only three feet above the ground.

"Come on, Draco! Try to move faster! The snitch won't wait for you, you know!" shouted Nott, one of his Chasers.

"Don't shout at me! I'm a girl you know! You can't shout at a girl, you twat! I almost feel sorry for your future wife, you'll probably beat her up!" screeched Draco.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

When the Slytherin Quidditch team trudged to lunch, every single one of them except Draco, was dead tired.

They weren't tired because they had gone through a grueling Quidditch practice, they were tired because all throughout practice, they had to coax their Captain to do everything from mounting a broom to catching the snitch, and all throughout their practice, their Captain had whined, screeched and thrown tantrums.

After practice, the whole team except their Captain, swore never to marry. Ever.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- Bacon**

That night, after dinner, Draco emerged from the girl's bathroom after changing his napkin yet again.

_I like the girl's bathroom much better than the boy's. At least in the girl's bathroom it smells nice, you don't get splattered on if someone else is peeing next to you and there's no risk of seeing someone else's-_

"Draco!"

Draco's train of thought was interrupted by a high pitched, girly squeal. He had spent the whole day trying to avoid Pansy but annoyingly, she always found him.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you,"

_Good, at least you hopefully lost some pounds while you were._

"Anyway, there's a Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow and we could shop together." Pansy finished, her eyes gleaming excitedly. She loved shopping almost half as much as Draco did.

Draco's ears perked at the sound of a Hogsmeade weekend. He had a rather long list of things he wanted to buy, but at the same time, he had no one he wanted to go with who also wanted to go with him.

Ever since Pansy heard that Draco had been turned into a girl, she spent her time with him, gossiping about some hot Quidditch player, trying to get Draco to tell all his secrets to her, whispering and giggling by Draco's side. Basically, she annoyed the hell out of Draco.

Blaise had constantly been hitting on Draco, and Draco was sure that if he were to ask Blaise to come to Hogsmeade with him, Blaise would spend his time trying to go somewhere private with Draco, trying to get Draco to do very er, suggestive things with him, or talk to Draco in his slimy voice, thinking that everybody thought it was sexy.

No, he would not bring Blaise or Pansy with him. There was only one alternative.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Please, please, please, Hermione, I'm begging you!" Draco was clutching one of Hermione's legs, refusing to let go, while Hermione managed to walk rather easily while he was doing so.

Draco had been begging her to come with him to Hogsmeade since she had entered the Head's Common Rooms that evening, where he had been waiting for her since he had escaped Pansy.

In truth, Hermione _had_ been planning to go to Hogsmeade. But not with Draco. Harry and Ron couldn't come with her since they had Quidditch Practice.

"For the last time, Draco," said Hermione, wiggling her leg so that Draco would let go. "I will not go with you! You'll probably drag me through all the clothing shops in Hogsmeade and try on everything you see."

Draco pouted up at Hermione from the floor where he was sitting dejectedly as Hermione had finally succeeded in prying Draco off her leg. "Please?" he asked, his lower lip trembling. He had mastered the art of persuasion when he was little, resulting in making his mother get him whatever he wanted. He knew that with the look he was giving her, Hermione would not last much longer.

"Oh, alright," Hermione said grumpily, unable to resist Draco's puppy dog pout.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The next morning, Hermione woke up due to a dreadful screeching noise coming from the bathroom. When the banshee voice reached a high note, Hermione winced, certain that her ears were dripping blood.

Deciding that she could not possibly go to sleep after the torture that her ears had gone through, she got up and stretched, yawning widely. Thinking that she wouldn't be needing a shower anyway, she threw on a pair of wrinkled jeans and a black Star Wars shirt, not minding the fact that it was faded around the edges.

After waiting for Malfoy for what seemed like hours, he finally came out in a white, neatly pressed and stain free turtleneck sweater, designer jeans and flats, clutching a Nine West handbag.

"What took you so long?" Hermione asked crossly. "I've been waiting here for hours."

As soon as Draco saw Hermione, he wrinkled his nose, looking disgustedly at Hermione's choice in clothes.

"Yuck, Granger, you look worse than our house elves. I can't be seen in public with you looking like that, I'll be a laughingstock!"

Hermione looked down at the clothes she was wearing and had to admit that Malfoy was right.

"Fine then, Ms. I'm-so-clean-and-neat-looking. What do you want me to do?" Hermione snapped, her patience thin because she had just woken up.

Taking charge, Malfoy made Hermione scrub herself pink, brush her wavy locks one hundred times, put on lotion, skin cream and perfume, made her shave and personally chose Hermione's outfit for the day.

After one and a half hours, Malfoy stepped back and admired his work.

_Hubba hubba, now _that_ is what I call hot._

Meanwhile, oblivious to the drooling Malfoy behind her, Hermione was observing her reflection in the mirror. Malfoy had made her wear black slacks, a grey silk dress shirt, and loafers.

_Wow. Malfoy is good. I'm like one of those people from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy._

When they headed down to breakfast, many female heads turned. Malfoy felt jealous but would not admit it and all through breakfast, ignoring Blaise's corny pick-up lines, he craned his neck to look at the Gryffindor Table.

_What is wrong with me? Why do I keep on stalking Granger? Do I like her, er, him? Okay, so I admit she's pretty hot. I love her eyes, her ars- Oh my God! That Lavender slut just touched her, I mean, his hand! You are gonna pay._

"Psst," said Harry, trying to get Hermione's attention, who was busily stuffing her mouth with eggs "Malfoy's looking at you again."

All through breakfast, Draco had been keeping a close eye on Hermione, for reasons unknown to the clueless Golden Trio.

"Ignore her," said Hermione, "she probably doesn't want me to be late for her shopping trip or something. Pass the bacon, please, Lavender."

When Hermione took the plate of hot, newly cooked bacon from Lavender, her finger brushed his. Lavender giggled and batted her eyelashes at Hermione.

Hermione rolled her eyes. _Girls._

Suddenly, Draco was charging to the Gryffindor Table with a butter knife in his hand.

"You little b!" he screeched at Lavender, threateningly pointing his fork that was dripping with eggs at the abovementioned person.

Hundreds of heads turned, anticipating the catfight that was likely to come from the two girls.

Just as Draco was about to pounce on Lavender, Ron and Harry held him back.

"Let me go!" screamed Draco, kicking ferociously.

After much biting, scratching and swearing, Ron and Harry finally succeeded in calming Draco down. Draco grabbed Hermione and huffed out of the Great Hall. Before he disappeared through the heavy oak doors though, he did the I'm-watching-you sign with his two fingers at Lavender.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

As soon as they left Hogwarts, Draco's foul mood seemed to dissipate. Hermione wasn't foolish enough to ask Draco about what had happened earlier, as she valued her life.

As Draco was prattling about this gorgeous dress he saw in Witch's Weekly, Hermione allowed herself to ponder why Draco had acted the way he did this morning.

_The stupid prat didn't attack until after I asked for bacon.. maybe he has something against bacon or something._

If Hermione had been a girl, she would not have been so narrow-minded and would have realized that Draco fancied her. However, Hermione wasn't her usual, sensitive self and had to assume that Draco was angry at bacon.

Guys can be so stupid sometimes.


	5. Chapter 5

_Okay, so before I start this chapter, I'd like to say a few things. First, this chapter is written especially for Sandra, Mar and Mar. Second, Malfoy was supposed to say "you little b h!" at Lavender, and third, **how old do you think I am?**_

**Chapter 5- Shopping and Being Mental**

When they got to Hogsmeade, Draco headed to the first beauty products store he saw first, dragging Hermione along and muttering something about how only stupid people didn't buy beauty products.

Hermione rolled her eyes, half jogging to keep up with Draco, who had her in a vice-like grip.

Draco stopped in front of Golden Beauty's House of Beauty Products, his eyes gleaming.

"Now," he said, his eyes narrowing when he turned around to face Hermione "I'll leave you here so you don't disturb my shopping, but if I catch you sneaking away," he slashed his throat with his finger, then abruptly turned on his heel to enter the shop.

Thirty minutes later, Draco emerged from the shop, leading a salesman who was carrying at least fifty bags to where Hermione was.

_Wow. It's a miracle that he shopped all those in thirty minutes._

"Here," said Draco, indicating Hermione "give those to him." The salesman breathed a sigh of relief and prayed that Draco would never come to their shop again.

"What?" Hermione screeched, looking at the numerous amount of bags. "Why do I have to carry it? Why don't you?"

"Because, I'm a _girl_." He answered is a slow voice, enunciating every syllable. "Plus, I got something for you."

Hermione was surprised. She hadn't expected Draco to be thoughtful enough to get her anything at all. After rummaging around in several bags, Draco pulled out……..a small tube of zit cream.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Draco stopped at every store; always getting Hermione some small insignificant thing and making her carry his growing amount of shopping bags.

At Honeydukes, he got her a sugar cube. At an underwear store, he gave her a pamphlet that said _What is Your Bra Size?_ At a jewelry shop, he got her an earring lock.

This went on and on shop after shop, Hermione finally thinking that he just got the stuff he gave her off the ground, just so she would carry his bags.

After what seemed like an eternity to Hermione, Draco finally gave in to her piteous moaning and begging and consented to go back to Hogwarts, although Hermione suspected that it was because they had already gone to all the shops in Hogsmeade.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

When they got back to the Head's Dorms that evening, Hermione plopped down on the couch, exhausted. Draco sat down next to her, then suddenly gasped.

"What happened to your hands?"

Hermione looked down at her hands, and sure enough, saw that huge, red welts were forming. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell Draco that it was because of his bags, knowing how it would upset him, so she just shrugged.

Knowing just how concerned Draco was made Hermione's thoughts drift back to the incident that morning.

_I wonder why he's so concerned about me, it's not like he likes me or anything… right?_

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted when Draco touched her hand gently and examined it further.

Hermione's breath hitched in her throat when she felt Draco touch her hand. She looked at him and saw that he was very concernedly looking at Hermione's damaged hand.

Although she had looked at Draco loads of times, she had never really _looked_ at him. Now that she did, she noticed his eyes, their stormy grey flashing silver in concern, his porcelain skin tinged by the warm glow of the fireplace. She noticed that when he blinked, his face went out of color before he opened his silver eyes again. She noticed his long, almost transparent eyelashes that swept his cheeks whenever he closed his eyes.

"Well," said Draco, once again interrupting her train of thought "your hands are fine, the welts ought to be gone by tomorrow."

"Th-thanks," she replied, albeit shakily, noticing that Draco had not yet let go of her hand "um, you can let go of my hand now, if you like."

Inside her head, Hermione smacked her head, frustrated at herself.

_You're such a blithering buttnugget Hermione, "if you like" didn't sound suave at all!_

When she said this, Draco flushed pink. "Oh, yeah, I erm, will now," he stammered, nodding his head and letting go of her hand,

_Argh! What is wrong with me? Why can't I talk properly?_

A few minutes passed in awkward silence, with Hermione and Draco looking anywhere else but at each other.

Suddenly, Draco giggled.

Then, he giggled louder.

"What?" said an annoyed Hermione irritably.

"Well," said Draco between peals of laughter "I think it's funny that earlier we were fine, and now, were all awkward."

Even though there was no humor in this statement whatsoever, Hermione began laughing along with Draco, really loudly.

If you were to view this scene from an outsider's view, you would've thought "_Geez, these two crackpots need mental therapy!"_

From Draco's view, you would've thought "_Geez, we both need mental therapy!"_

From Hermione's view, you would've thought _"Geez, we both need mental therapy!" _

Anyway, they decided not to mention that awkward silence, deciding that being metal was definitely better than being awkward.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Chocolate Pools and a Quidditch Match**

That night, Draco had a dream. He dreamt that he was walking through a huge house where everything was made out of chocolate. He stepped into a huge courtyard and saw a perfectly round swimming pool of melted chocolate.

"_Strange, it's like I've seen this chocolate pool before…" _he mused, not realizing that it was Hermione's eyes that the pool so strongly reminded him of.

Anyway, being the chocolate lover that he was, he shrugged off his thoughts and dove headfirst into the pool, drinking the chocolate in big gulps.

Suddenly, the pool and Draco grew smaller and smaller.

"ARGHH! MY EYES! MY EYES!"

Draco woke up with a start.

_Oh my god! I never meant to swim in Hermione's eyes! I might've blinded her! I am so sorry Hermione!_

Draco didn't realize until it was too late that he wasn't sleeping anymore, so he groggily stood up and headed to the source of the screaming, which happened to be the bathroom, still thinking that had been swimming in Hermione's eyes.

He burst into the bathroom, his hair tousled .

"Hermione!" he exclaimed spotting Hermione in front of the sink, washing her eyes with water. "How are you? I am _so_ sorry! I really didn't know that they were your eyes! You're not blind, are y-"

Draco was cut short when Hermione finished washing her eyes and stared at Draco oddly, one of her eyes red.

"What are you talking about Draco?"

A pregnant pause passed before Draco realized that he had just been dreaming. He flushed a deep crimson with embarrassment.

"W-well," stammered Draco, trying to change the topic "why were you screaming then?"

"I got soap in my eyes." Hermione replied, still looking at him oddly, wondering what on earth he meant by 'swimming in your eyes'.

These thoughts were wiped out of her mind, however, when she noticed what Draco was wearing, which she knew she definitely did not own previously. He was wearing a short, above-the-knee green satin dress that clung to the curves he now had nicely.

Her throat went dry, her teen, hormone controlled mind going into overdrive.

Draco stopped feeling embarrassed when he noticed Hermione's obvious discomfort. He didn't mind the fact that Hermione was only wearing pajama trousers because he had often spent hours at a time wearing only boxers, looking at himself in the mirror, and telling himself how sexy he looked. Since Hermione's body now didn't really look that different from his body then, he wasn't uncomfortable at all.

Hermione, on the other hand, wouldn't have even thought of wearing something like that, being as conservative as always.

_Wow. I never knew that Draco looked like that! I must look like a dork, gaping at him, wearing pajama pants_ only. _At least going topless now won't expose any of my… er, more sensitive parts._

Suddenly, Draco's eyes widened, like he had just remembered something horrible.

"What?" Hermione said inquiringly.

"Oh my god! I just remembered that we have a Quidditch game against Gryffindor today!" he said pacing the room. "I have to get dressed. Now!" and with that, he rushed back into his room, all embarrassments forgotten.

Five minutes later, Draco was hollering at the top of his voice at Hermione from the Common Room.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," said Hermione, rushing down to the Common Room, her hands held up as if she was surrendering.

"About time," hissed Draco, whose patience was wearing thin.

"It isn't my fault that you forgot about your game!" said Hermione defensively. "You could've gone along to breakfast without me you know."

"I need moral support! Plus, you should've reminded me about the match! You're the organized one here you know!"

They continued bickering until they reached the Great Hall, where most of the Hogwarts population was eating breakfast. Somehow, Draco felt more at ease while bickering with Hermione. It was something that felt …familiar.

Draco spent the rest of the morning before the match fretting and worrying about the match to Hermione. Although Hermione hadn't wanted to at first, Draco finally forced her to watch the game.

Finally, Professor Snape called the Slytherin Team and told them to get dressed and ready for the match, which was a mere ten minutes away.

Ten minutes later, Draco and his team were strutting down the Quidditch Pitch. Although on the outside, Draco Malfoy seemed cool and confident, on the inside, he was a bundle of nerves.

The nervous buzzing in his ears soon drowned out the commentary as he kicked off the ground unsteadily, causing him to veer to the left.

Five minutes into the game, neither Draco nor Harry had spotted the snitch. Draco was hovering six feet above the ground, making it look like he was trying out a new tactic instead of looking like he was scared, nervous, pressured and stressed.

Suddenly, not five feet away from him, he spotted a glimmer of gold. His heart pumped rapidly while he jerkily maneuvered his broom towards the snitch.

_Maybe we do have a chance of winning this!_

Apparently, Harry had also spotted the snitch, because he dove from seventy feet to Draco's level. Even though Draco was closer, Harry was closing in the distance faster because Draco was going at a slower speed. Harry was on the opposite side of the snitch, his face screwed in concentration and his hand outstretched.

If Draco wanted to win this thing, he would have to think of something, fast.

"Look!" he exclaimed suddenly, pointing at a spot behind Harry's shoulder "free milkshakes!"

Harry, without thinking, twisted to look behind him (he loved milkshakes!) and during that split second when Harry wasn't looking, Harry's fingertips brushed the snitch but Draco grabbed it before Harry (_the idiot_, Draco thought) could even realize that Draco had tricked him.

The crowd, suddenly realizing what had happened, erupted into cheers, screams and boos. The Slytherin team all swooped down on Draco, patting him on the back. Professor Snape walked down into the field to congratulate the team and especially Draco on a job well done, and trying with difficulty to suppress the huge grin that was forcing itself out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7- Parents**

The following months flew by quickly and before Draco or Hermione realized it, it was almost Christmas. Three weeks before Christmas, Draco and Hermione were sitting in their respective Tables eating breakfast when Dumbledore stood up, clearly intending to make an announcement.

"I want to inform all those who will be going home for the Christmas break that the Hogwarts Express will be bringing you to Platform 9 ¾ one week before Christmas. That will be all." Dumbledore said.

The rest of the students just continued eating, chattering, cramming their homework, cramming for a test, snogging, gossiping or whatever they happened to be doing before Dumbledore spoke, but Draco and Hermione had frozen, each thinking "_I can't believe I forgot to tell them!"_

What had happened was that both of them idiotically forgot to tell their parents about their… situation.

After breakfast, Draco cornered Hermione.

"What do we do now?" Draco asked, knowing that Hermione knew what he was talking about.

"I dunno, we could write a letter to them or something," Hermione said.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

That night, Draco sat by his desk, holding a quill and a piece of parchment before him, thinking hard about how his parents would react to his being a girl. He knew that his mother would be thrilled, she had always wanted a daughter, but he wasn't so sure about how his father would react.

After his two year stint in Azkaban, Lucius had come home a changed man. He no longer belittled Draco or his accomplishments, he was starting to be more of a father in Draco's eyes than an evil tyrant.

Lucius was starting to show the love he had for Draco's mother when they had first met, and not treating her like a mere possession.

But best of all, known only to Dumbledore and the Malfoys, Lucius had become a spy for the Order, resulting in Voldemort's easy defeat to Harry, as Lucius had told Dumbledore where all Voldemort's Horcruxes were, and had often told Draco how much he wished he could start his life again, fighting against Voldemort rather than fighting with him.

All in all, Draco was starting to know the life he had been deprived of for almost sixteen years, a life where he had loving parents who cared for him and didn't see him only as an heir to the marvelous fortune their family had.

After a while of pondering, Draco finally decided that he would rather tell his parents personally what had happened to him, and looked forward to the looks on both his parents faces when Lucius realized his son, who held the family jewels had turned into a girl and when Narcissa found out that she now had someone to go shopping with (in female shops anyway) and a whole room to redecorate with a female theme.

Hermione meanwhile, had written a letter to her parents and knew that her mom would probably have a heart attack and her dad would expect her to play golf with him.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Draco got off from the Hogwarts Express and looked around for his parents. When he found them, he saw that they were looking as haughty as ever, also looking around the station for him. Draco knew that their being haughty was part of his father's being a spy. What would Voldemort say if he saw Lucius being charitable, adopting the homeless, or even just smiling in public?

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Draco, Lucius and Narcissa had spotted him, but didn't know that he was their son.

"Look, darling Narcissa," Lucius said, elbowing Narcissa and speaking in an undertone, while the people around them looked terrified, thinking that Lucius was planning something evil "that young woman over there would do good to be Draco's wife."

"I know Lucius," Narcissa responded "she'd be perfect for making grandchildren with."

When Draco had finally made his way through all the bustling people to his parents, he found that both of them were smiling warmly at him.

"Lucius Malfoy," said Lucius, coming forward to shake Draco's hand warmly "have you met my son Draco, or are you here with him?" he asked, looking around.

_Oh, so they think I'm my girlfriend or something and that I'm going to introduce me to them._

"Mum, Dad," started Draco, but was cut short when Narcissa, looking shocked interrupted.

"Well dear, it is obvious that you are with Draco, but don't you think that calling us your parents is a step too far for now?" said Narcissa.

"Unless…" said Lucius, obviously thinking very hard "you two are engaged!" he exclaimed suddenly, causing nosy passers-by to look and stare at the three of them.

It was Draco's turn to be shocked. Did his parents think that he would ask someone to marry him without letting that someone meet his parents first? He was expecting Lucius and Narcissa to be enraged with him.

But, for the second time, they shocked him. Narcissa hugged Lucius, who, like Narcissa, was laughing with joy.

"Finally!" said Narcissa "Our little baby has finally found his true love! Promise me dear, that you'll have lots of little children."

Draco was reeled. He made a mental note to himself, telling him that if he was ever going to bring his real fiancée to meet his parents for the first time, he would he sure that both their mouths were sealed with a Sealing Charm, lest his mother or father would start blabbering about grandchildren or whatever.

When his mother had finally stopped talking about stuff like family planning, their children's names, the wedding, their future house, safe sex, their honeymoon and a load of other stuff that greatly embarrassed Draco, she finally noticed that her beloved son was not there yet, and the crowd in the station was thinning.

"Where's Draco, dear?" she said inquiringly.

Draco exhaled, it was now or never.

"I am Draco."

His parents looked at him blankly, so he proceeded to tell them about the spell.

When he was done, several minutes passed before his mother squealed even louder than before and hugged Draco, yakking about clothes, his room, and goodness knows what else.

"Lucius dear, isn't this lovely?" said Narcissa, still hugging Draco.

There was a dull thunk and Draco and Narcissa turned around to find out that Lucius had passed out cold, clutching his chest.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Meanwhile, Hermione had to cross the barrier, carrying her luggage easily, to where her parents usually were to meet her, as muggles couldn't pass the barrier.

She spotted her parents and immediately walked over to them, whereas they ignored her.

Hermione was confused, didn't they recognize her? She had sent them a letter telling them about what had happened. She shrugged.

"Hi mum, dad," she said, stepping in front of her parents and towering over her mom but staying eye level with her dad.

They both looked thoroughly puzzled.

"I'm Hermione," she said, more confused than ever as to why her parents didn't recognize her. She knew that they were inexperienced about magic (duh!) but she had explained everything in her letter. "I wrote you a letter about what had happened-"

At this, her parents looked alarmed.

_Oops. Wrong choice of words!_

"Why?" said Mrs. Granger shrilly "What happened to Hermione?"

"Mum," said Hermione patiently "I _am_ Hermione." She realized that the letter must have been intercepted or something, providing an explanation to her parents cluelessness.

"No you're not," said Mr. Granger, speaking for the first time.

"Yes I am."

Mr. Granger grew red, a sign that he was going to blow up anytime soon.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE REAL HERMIONE?"

Hermione noticed the uncanny similarity to her dad's reaction and Ron's. When both her parents had calmed down a bit, or at least when Mr. Granger had stopped yelling, she proceeded to tell them soothingly about what had happened.

"Y-you mean…" said Mrs. Granger with difficulty, forcing herself to absorb the load of information Hermione had just told her. "your, erm, well" she said, somewhat uncomfortably, gesturing to Hermione's more private regions.

Hermione grew beet red, comprehending what her mother meant. "Yeah," she answered, just as uncomfortably.

Mr. Granger, meanwhile, clapped Hermione on the back and said "That's my boy."

Both Hermione and her mom looked at him weirdly because of the seeming randomness of the statement.

"What?" said Mr. Granger "I had always wanted to say that."

After that, things seemed to go rather smoothly, aside from the fact that her mom kept telling her stuff like "Now don't you go sticking that in holes it doesn't belong in" or "Wait till you find the right girl" which was very embarrassing for both Hermione and Mr. Granger since they were in a public place.

When they reached their car, Hermione sighed. This was going to be a looooooooong Christmas.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- The Masquerade Ball and Draco's Gift**

That year, Christmas for Draco, for once was a happy one. Draco found out that he couldn't care less about the presents he received (also because most of the gifts he got were stuff like broomstick kits from his dad, a book on how to get the girl of his dreams from his mother, a box of condoms, also from his mother, etc., etc.) but the fact that they were spending Christmas like a normal family should.

Of course, the usual lavish Yuletide furnishings were in place, but Draco wouldn't've cared less if they had spent Christmas in a hovel (which he was sure Weasel was doing).

The next morning, Draco woke up to something tapping on his window. He opened his eyes to see that an owl was there, carrying a letter from which Draco could make out the Hogwarts crest, and a small, silver tinsel wrapped package.

_Stupid owls! That damn post office should know better than to send their delivery owls this early in the morning!_

Draco unlatched his window and let the owl in. When he had unburdened the owl of the package and the letter, he decided that he wanted to take out a little revenge on the owl for waking him up so early (even though it was already past ten).

"BOO!" he screamed at the poor owl.

When the owl squawked and flew off in a panic, Draco clutched his stomach and rolled around on the floor, cackling madly.

Deciding that he felt better after he had given the owl what that bloody bird deserved, he opened the tinsel wrapped gift. When he did, a note fell out. The gift was from Hermione.

He saw that Hermione had given him a beautiful snow globe of Hogwarts, with a little enchanted figure of someone with white blond hair walking on the grounds, and who screamed obscenities at you if you shook the globe.

He felt an odd, warm and tingly feeling in his stomach when he thought about Hermione being kind enough to get him something for Christmas, and a feeling of guilt when he realized that he had nothing to give her.

He thought quickly, and rushed over to the huge pile of gifts that he had received yesterday, and rummaged around when he found what he wanted. He hastily wrapped the said object, and sent it with his sleek, black owl, Midnight, to Hermione.

_At least that's over with. Hermione could really put those to good use. Besides, I didn't have much use for a box of cherry flavored, ultra thin condoms anyway._

He was about to leave for breakfast, when he remembered the letter from Hogwarts. Tearing the letter open, he read the thin, slanting lettering, getting more and more excited as he finished each line.

_Dear Ms. Malfoy,_

_This year, the staff and I have decided to rekindle the traditions that were lived through for generations but which have been forgotten decades ago. In short, we have decided to hold the New Year's Masquerade Ball, an event which I am sure your parents attended together._

_For this reason, we will be asking all students to return to school one week earlier than usual. Because it is a Masquerade Ball, you will, of course, be wearing a mask and a gown._

_Because you are Head Girl, you will be required to meet with the Head Boy sometime this Christmas break in order to plan the Ball._

_Best wishes and a Merry Christmas,_

_Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore_

Draco was thrilled. He told himself that it was because of the ball that he was excited, although deep down, he knew a portion of his excitement was a chance to see Hermione earlier that he thought.

He bounded down the steps, shouting for his mother. Narcissa came rushing out of the kitchen, looking worried since she was not used to Draco shouting at the top of his lungs.

"What's wrong, Draco?"

Draco beamed at her, and instead of answering, thrust the letter into his mother's hands. She scanned the letter quickly, after which, shouted over her back to Lucius.

"Lucius, Draco and I are going shopping!" before rushing off to get dressed.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione lay on her bed with her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. She wondered if Draco would like the enchanted snow globe she had sent him, and wondered why she cared so much anyway.

_I suppose I've gotten used to being around Malfoy for some time now._

Although you couldn't exactly call them the best of friends, Hermione was sure that they weren't the bane of each other's existences either. All through the entire ordeal of changing sexes, the only people who truly understood what she and Draco were going through were each other.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tawny brown owl tapping on her window pane. She saw that it was a letter from Hogwarts, and wondered what on earth she could have done to be sent a Hogwarts letter to during vacation.

_Oh no! I must have violated some Hogwarts rule about changing sexes that Dumbledore remembered just now! Maybe I'll lose my badge, or worse, get expelled! Oh no, oh on, oh no…_

She slit open the letter, her hands trembling so badly that she nearly tore the letter inside.

After reading the letter, she grinned, thinking about how stupid she was when she thought about all those preposterous things about being expelled.

However, there was the Masquerade Ball to worry about. She remembered when she was in fourth year, how she fretted about bringing a date to the Yule Ball, and how relieved she had been when Viktor Krum had asked her to go with him.

Now, though, she doubted whether anyone would want to bring her to the Ball. Little did she know, most of the girls in Hogwarts drooled over her now, and when she was a girl, lots of guys could hardly ignore her development over the summer.

Almost as soon as the Hogwarts owl flew off, a large, black owl swooped in through her open window and dropped off a messily wrapped package before taking off just as soon as it had arrived.

Hermione unwrapped the gift and a red box fell out. Curious, Hermione picked it up from the floor and, just as she touched it, letters and pictures appeared on the box, advertising whatever what was inside.

Hermione took a closer look and immediately blushed to the tips of her hair when she realized what the box was full of.

_**DO YOU WANT ADDED PLEASURE?**_

_**NEED TO ADD A LITTLE SPICE TO YOUR LIFE?**_

_**THEN TRY YUMMY CONDOMS! THE ONLY CONDOMS WITH AN ADDED FLAVOR!**_

Then, a moving photo of a woman with impossibly large breasts appeared. She was winking suggestively and holding a whip. Hermione grimaced with embarrassment when she saw the woman.

_Trust Draco to give me something as disgustingly obscene as this._

She opened her cabinet and wrapped the flashing box with an old blanket and made sure that she stuffed it really securely into the deepest corner of her cabinet.

When she was about to leave the room, she saw in the corner of her eye that apparently, a note had come with the present. It read:

_Hermione,_

_Happy using! nudgenudgewinkwink_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9- A Theme and Fred and George**

Hermione drummed her fingers on the cool marble surface of the café in Diagon Alley. She had been waiting for two hours since she arrived at the café. Draco had sent her a hastily scrawled note earlier that morning, asking her to meet with him so they could plan the Masquerade Ball together.

She glanced up and saw that the manager of the café was giving her the evil eye again.

_Brrr. That guy gives me the creeps. Better buy another coffee soon or he'll kick me out._

She looked into her Styrofoam cup and pretended that it wasn't empty, taking a fake sip. Sighing, she wondered idly what could've kept Draco from meeting up with her. Just then, the chimes over the door tinkled, signaling the arrival of another customer.

Draco stepped into the shop, laden with numerous bags of varying shapes and colors.

_Guess that's what he was doing while I sat here, rotting with boredom and being glared to death by that bloody manager._

"It's about time you showed up, your highness," snapped Hermione while Draco took a seat opposite her.

"Keep your head on! I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, after me waiting for around two hours while you went on a shopping spree! Do you know how many coffees I had to buy just so the manager wouldn't kick me out for hanging around here doing nothing? Do you?"

People sitting near them started staring at them.

"Quit your yakking at me already!" hissed Draco "people are starting to stare-"

"Nosy gits," muttered Hermione.

Draco glared at her. "Anyway, if _you_ hadn't come so early, I wouldn't've seemed to be late."

"So now it's _my_ fault you were late! Yeah right!"

"Okay, okay, so maybe I was a bit late,"

"A bit?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows skeptically.

"Fine, a lot late, but I was busy picking the perfect outfit for the ball. Shopping for a dress is much better than shopping for boring old robes."

Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, but if you're _ever_ late for another one of our meetings again," she picked up a cracker from her plate and snapped it in half.

Draco gulped. "R-Right. So, have you got ant good ideas for the Masquerade Ball theme? By the way," he added, looking suddenly sly and much more Slytherin-like "have you used the gift I sent you?"

Hermione reddened. Did he _have_ to mention The Gift in such a public place? "Well, I er, r-really, erm appreciated your g-gift," she stammered.

"Oh," said Draco, winking "that much huh?"

"Malfoy!"

"Hey! Don't blame me for wanting to keep you from having babies at such a young age!"

People in the café started staring at them again. What was the problem with these people? Was it act-as-nosy-as-Rita-Skeeter day today or something?

"_Anyway,_" said Hermione, changing the topic "have you thought of any useful themes for the dance?" Hermione asked, wondering of they would ever get finished before they were too old to attend the Ball they were supposed to be planning.

"For your information," said Draco, looking affronted "I _have_ thought of some really great ideas. It's sort of hard not to, with a brain the size of mine."

"More like a head the size of yours."

The people in the café were watching the two teens bicker like a couple married for too long. Watching them exchange witty and usually insulting remarks and grate on each other's nerves added at least a bit of excitement to the usually drab, boring café.

When the two had finally stopped snapping at each other, Draco went into full detail about all the ideas he had. Apparently, he had a lot of wacky and amusing ideas. One of them included turning the Great Hall into an anti-gravity chamber. According to Draco, doing this would enable them to open up bottles of Bailey's ("Just like in that Muggle commercial!") and drink the drops floating in midair.

Another theme he proposed was making the Great Hall look like a bar, heavily emphasizing hiring an extremely hot bartender.

"Look Draco," Hermione sighed exasperatedly, "we can't turn the Great Hall into a bar because most of the people who are attending the Ball aren't even of legal age to drink anything even remotely alcoholic. Besides, how the heck will we have a Masquerade Ball in a bar?"

"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Draco, after mulling Hermione's words for a while. "We could fill up the Great Hall with water, and get everyone to dress like merpeople!"

"We wouldn't be able to eat, drink, dance or breathe. The fact that we dress like merpeople doesn't grant us the ability to actually _be_ merpeople… But," said Hermione, after thinking of Draco's idea for a bit "I suppose if we'd just tweak your idea a bit, then we would have a really great theme."

They spent the next hour planning all the details of the Ball, and by the time they were done, the thought that was in both of their heads was; "This is gonna be one hell of a great ball!"

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

When they were done, Hermione checked her wristwatch and saw that it was already past five.

_Wow. No wonder that bloody manager kept on glaring at us. We'd been in this café for more than six hours!_

"So," said Draco, standing up to leave "where do we go now?"

"We?"

"We."

"We?"

"We."

Hermione eyed him warily. She shrugged. Oh well. It was better going somewhere with Malfoy than staying at a café where the manager hated your guts.

"Fine," said Hermione, standing up to go as well.

Draco stepped out of the heated café, and gave an involuntary shudder when he felt the bite of the freezing cold outside.

"So," he called to Hermione, who was walking beside him in a slightly raised voice so he could be heard against the wind. "where d'you want to go?"

Hermione pointed to a shop not twenty feet away from them. Draco recognized it as the shop where Lucius, in disguise, had bought the Peruvian Darkness Powder. He wondered what other Dark objects the store had to sell and what on earth Hermione, a Gryffindor, would want to have to do with a store like that.

When they got closer though, he was surprised, and slightly blinded when he saw the horribly clashing, neon colors that were used on the absurd advertisements posted on the glass windows. It didn't look like a Dark Store at all.

As soon as they stepped into the shop, two flame haired twins Apparated directly in front of them. Hermione thought that she'd have a heart attack.

"Good afternoon sir,"

"and maam!"

"Welcome to Weaseley's,"

"Wizarding Wheezes!"

"What may we do for you?" they asked simultaneously. Sometimes, Hermione thought, this finishing-the-sentence-for-your-twin thing that Fred and George had going creeped Hermione out.

"Weasley?" asked Draco, perfectly raising a blonde eyebrow. Raising eyebrows was an art that all Malfoys toned to perfection at a very early age. Hermione looked at him warningly.

Draco remembered these two during their years at Hogwarts, and particularly the incident that many students still dubbed as "The Weasley", "The Broomstick Escape", etc etc.

"Yeah," said George, crossing his arms "we are Weasleys. That's why it's called the Weaseley's Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a slow, I'm-talking-to-a-stupid-person voice.

"Got a problem with that?" asked Fred "The way you say 'Weasley' makes you sound like that sodding git, Malfoy."

Draco reddened and clenched his fists, his manicured fingernails biting into his palm. "I _am_ Malfoy."

For a moment, the twins remained silent. Then, Fred said "Yeah right! Next, you'll be telling me that that bloke over there," he poked his thumb to where Hermione was standing "is Hermione!"

Apparently, Harry, Ron and Ginny had forgotten to tell the twins about Hermione and Malfoy's current predicament. A pregnant pause followed until Hermione decided to break it.

"Actually guys, Malfoy's correct, for once," Draco glared at her "He's a girl, and I'm, well, I'm a guy," she finished lamely.

At first, Fred and George's faces were stupidly blank, then confused, and all of a sudden, realization hit them like an anvil falling from the sky.

"I get it-"

"-Malfoy's gay-"

"-and Hermione's a lesbian-"

"-and you both had sex changes!" they finished triumphantly.

Another pause followed, while Fred and George stood with identical goofy grins

on their faces.

"What the hell!" exploded Draco, looking thoroughly disgusted.

"That's gross!" exclaimed Hermione, her face screwed up.

"That's alright," said George soothingly, patting Draco's shoulder. "We all know that denial is always a part of being a bisexual-"

"-but we assure you," said Fred, doing that freaky twin thing again "people will eventually accept you for who you are-"

"and won't think of you as abnormal freaks that should be shunned from the community."

"But we really aren't-" began Hermione.

"And," said Fred "I'm sure that other bisexuals out there wouldn't mind being in a relationship with you."

"That's not what I-" said Draco.

"Why?" asked George, "do people treat you differently now?"

"That isn't what's-" said Hermione

"Do they bully you?"

"Shun you?"

"Spit on you?"

"Push you?"

"Etc. etc?"

"I'm trying to tell you that-" said Hermione.

"Don't worry," said Fred gallantly. "we'll make a new product that will eventually open people's eyes."

And with that, Fred and George shooed Draco and Hermione out, bolted the door, and closed the shop.

Outside, Hermione and Draco stood in the snow, very, very confused. If they had listened a bit harder, they would have heard the twins' evil cackling inside the now closed store.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Before the Ball**

Hermione laid on her bed, her head in turmoil. The day that she had spent with Draco had been unexpectedly… fun. She never thought that she, Hermione Granger, the goody goody Gryffindor Prefect, would ever have a fun day with Draco Malfoy, the slimy little git that she had punched in third year and admit it to herself.

She turned over on her side and stared at the silvery patch of moonlight dancing on her patchwork quilt and sighed. Best get some sleep before returning to Hogwarts tomorrow.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

The following day, all the seventh and sixth years were assembled in the Great Hall, having come a week early for the Ball.

Dumbledore stood up.

"Before we start our sumptuous feast," beside her, Hermione heard Ron's stomach grumble loudly when Dumbledore mentioned the word 'sumptuous', "I would like to remind you that since the Ball is on Tuesday, the day after tomorrow, the Heads and Prefects will spend tomorrow decorating the Hall for the Ball. Our alternate dining venues will be beside the Lake for lunch and breakfast, and dinner will be served in the Common Rooms. Ms. Malfoy and Mr. Granger," he said, his eyes twinkling even more "will be in charge of the decorations and will hold a Head and Prefect meeting after dinner. That will be all, thank you."

As soon as Dumbledore sat down, the empty dishes, goblets, and bowls before the students on the House Tables filled with food. Hermione did her best in ignoring Ron as he swallowed and chewed twice as loud as the average human while he vacuumed his food to fill his insatiable stomach. She may be a guy, but there was no way that she would start eating like a starving pig, aka Ron.

After dinner, Draco, Hermione, and all the Prefects from the different Houses went to the Head's Tower while Ron lagged behind and tried to walk as fast as his bloated stomach would allow, which wasn't very fast at all. When they got to the Tower, they had to wait a bit for Ron, who came a few minutes later.

After Ron had heaved himself through the portrait hole and plopped himself beside Pansy, who scooted as far away from him as possible, Draco and Hermione proceeded to explain the Ball's theme to the prefects. Hermione had already researched all the spells that were necessary for creating the theme and all that was left to do was to tell the Prefects about it so that they could learn them and suggest some spells of their own.

"Right," started Hermione "since this is the first time in a long time that Hogwarts is throwing a Masquerade Ball, we, that is, me and Draco, have decided to make it extra special."

"That's right," cut in Draco "thanks to me, we're going to have a great theme for this Ball and-"

He was interrupted by a loud belch from Ron and a squeal of disgust following shortly afterwards from Pansy. Apparently, Ron had burped and a piece of chicken and a bit of carrot from his throat had hit Pansy's smooth, evenly powdered cheek. Immediately, chaos erupted.

"Eeewww!"

"Disgusting!"

"Ick!"

"Pig!"

"Gross!"

"Get it off! Get it off!"

"Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww!"

"SILENCIO!"

Immediately, the whole room fell silent. Everybody's mouths were still moving, but once they realized that they could no longer spew Ron with their disgust for him, they snapped their traps shut. Hermione, who had cast the spell, was at the front of the room, her wand raised.

"Now," she seethed, looking at everyone in the room "when I remove the spell, all of you will shut up so that we can have something with at least a remote semblance to an organized, ordinary meeting. Am I understood?"

Everyone nodded mutely(as if they had much of a choice) and the meeting continued without any further disturbances and was kept in check by the angry glares Hermione sent to those who were not listening. When they got to the part wherein they explained the theme, everyone agreed that it was a terrific idea.

By the time they finished, it was past eleven, and deciding that they needed rest in order to be able to decorate the humongous Hall without dying, Draco called the meeting to an end.

"Okay people," said Draco, rising from his seat "don't forget. Seven o clock sharp at the Great Hall tomorrow."

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione stood at the entrance to the Great Hall, her mind thinking furiously. The day that she had spent in Draco's presence had proven that Draco wasn't at all bad. He was witty, funny, charming and when he chose to be, nice. Hermione wondered if Draco would agree to go to the Ball with her, but quickly dismissed the thought. Knowing Draco and his fan clubs, both the male and the female ones, Hermione was certain that Draco had already been offered countless more dates to the dance.

"Hey Hermione," came an all too familiar voice.

She jumped, surprised at being shaken out of her reverie, seeing that everyone had already gone into the Great Hall without her noticing, and the fact that the cause of all this jittery nervousness in her stomach was talking to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah! I'm fine! Absolutely peachy!" responded Hermione, hurrying to join the other Prefects and running from the person who made that uncomfortable, squirmy feeling every time she got too close.

Draco shrugged and followed Hermione into the Great Hall wondering what was up with Granger today.

Apparently, that was the thought that kept playing through Draco's head the whole morning. Every time that he tried to talk to her, she would either answer him in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice, or scuttle away as fast a s simultaneously scuttling away and trying to look inconspicuous about it would allow.

For some reason, this slightly dampened Draco's spirits. This, and the fact that he had turned all everyone who asked him to the dance down without really knowing why, confused him entirely.

They finally decided to have breakfast after two hours of some hardcore cleaning, giving in to Ron's loud protests and the equally loud grumbling of his stomach.

Harry, who had just come down to eat, joined Ron and Hermione by the lake. It was a cool, crisp day and the sun bathed the four house tables in clear, watery sunlight. As soon as they sat down, Ron started piling his plate (Hermione felt sorry for it already) with mountains of bacon, toast and jam and butter, eggs, and muffins. Because he was so concentrated on shoving enormous masses of food on his plate, he did not notice Hermione's odd behavior, but Harry did.

"Hey Hermione," greeted Harry.

"Yes-"

"How's the decorating going?"

"-foy-"

"Are you fine?"

"dra-"

"What's wrong Herm?"

"-dance?"

"Oookay."

"Mal-"

"…"

"-co."

He shrugged. Maybe Hermione just needed some food. Hermione put two fried eggs and a strip of bacon on her plate. She sighed. She wasn't really that hungry. Instead, she picked up her wand and poked the food on her plate. Immediately, the food arranged itself into a happy, smiling face with eggs for eyes and a mouth of bacon.

Hermione frowned. "Stupid food," she growled, and jabbed her food again. The happy, smiling face instantly morphed into a sad, crying face, with little streams of egg yolk pouring out of the fried egg.

Harry, not so perceptive but not entirely as blind to other people's feelings as Ron, noticed Hermione's crying breakfast and nudged Ron, glancing at Hermione quizzically.

Ron shrugged, his face stuffed.

"Hey Hermione, why'd you make your food cry?" Harry smacked himself on his forehead, making a mental note to heartily discourage Ron if he ever showed the interest for becoming a spy, or a private detective. The words "discreet" or "mysterious" were certainly not in Ron's dictionary.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong at all!"

"Come on Herm, you can tell Harry and me!" Ron said, trying to grin encouragingly but the effect was slightly marred by the fact that a bit of egg was dangling from one of his upper teeth.

At first, Hermione seemed to have spaced out, then, all of a sudden, she started babbling incoherently.

"ireallywanttotakedracotothedancebutidontknowhowtoaskhimandiwanttodie-"

"Whoa, Hermione, slow down a bit," said Harry, alarmed at his friend's unusual absence of sanity.

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Well, I er, … you see, I want to… cough , anyways, erm.."

"Well, what is it?"

Hermione glared at Ron angrily for ruining her 'buy-some-time-to-think-of-a-good-excuse' tactic. "Fine!" then, in a lowered voice she said "I want to take Draco to the dance, but I haven't got a clue as to how I am supposed to. Are you happy now?"

Surprisingly, Hermione didn't receive any angry, disbelieving lectures on how Draco was a prat, how she could even _think_ of going with him, how evil Draco was, blah, blah, blah. Instead, Harry and Ron high fived.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"Pur-lease, Hermione," said Harry, rolling his eyes "you two are soo obvious. I mean, even Ron here noticed."

"Hey!"

"It's true!"

"Shut up-"

He was cut in midsentence by Hermione, who, still looking bewildered asked "You mean you two guys actually noticed, um, something?"

"Yup," answered Ron "and I wouldn't be surprised if Draco wants to go with you too. I heard he turned down all the dates he was offered, even the one from Zabini, the slimy little git. I heard him crying about it in the bathrooms yesterday. Wimp."

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Just go ask her already!" Ron whispered furiously.

"Right," answered Hermione "let me just go dig a hole and _die_ in it first!"

"Hermione, if you don't ask Malfoy before we're senior citizens, we'll, um… be senior citizens," said Harry.

"Real witty and persuading Harry. Really."

The three of them had practically stalked Draco after decorating, Ron and Harry trying to make Hermione pluck up the courage to ask Draco to go the ball with her. Right now, they were uncomfortably squashed in a tiny alcove in the wall and peeking every once in a while at Draco, who was chatting with some friends some way along the corridor.

Hermione's knees felt like jelly, her brain felt like Styrofoam, her mouth was dry, and a swarm of butterflies had invaded her insides. She gulped.

"Hermione, are you all right? You look kinda clammy," said Harry, looking concerned.

"Yeah," said Ron, his head cocked to one side "pale too. Are you nervous, or did you just think of something horny-"

"RON!"

"Okay, okay. Yeesh! People these days…" he mumbled, shaking his head.

While Ron was grumbling incoherently to himself about how people had no sense of humor anymore, how they maltreated poor Ron, and other stuff like that, Hermione took a couple of deep breaths, steeling herself for something that she was sure would result in total humiliation and shame.

Her hands shaking slightly, Hermione stepped out of their cramped little hidey-hole.

"Hey Draco," she said, jogging to reach him. The friends that Draco was previously talking to had gone.

"Yes?" underneath his cool façade, Draco felt something like a flipped pancake in his stomach.

Hermione gulped. It was now or never. "Bbbleehhyybubudr." ARGH! What was wrong with her bloody throat?

"Huh?"

"Do y-you erm, … coughcough that is, if you don't, well, erm, maybe-"

"Spit it out!"

"Fine! Do you want to go with the Ball with me?"

At first, Draco looked genuinely shocked. Hermione thought that the thought that Draco must be thinking was "_Me_? She asked _me_? I, Draco Malfoy, richest, hottest person on earth will never stoop so low just to bring Hermione to the dance." When the real thought in his head was "ohmygodohmygodohmygodphmygodohmygod…"

"Of _course_ I would want to go with you!"

Hermione, in her state of jittery nerves, misheard Draco's answer.

"Oh, okay. Actually, I'm not surprised. Loads of other guys must have asked you out already. Guys more handsome, rich, charming-"

"Hermione, I said yes."

Hermione blinked stupidly for a few seconds.

"You-you said yes?"

"Uh huh. Do I have to spell it out for you?" asked Draco, smiling.

"Oh," said Hermione, her insides simultaneously writhing and inflating. Writhe, inflate. Writhe, inflate. "thanks then."

Draco nodded and walked primly down the hall, Hermione watching him go. As soon as he rounded the corner, Draco started skipping happily. He couldn't believe that Hermione had finally gathered the guts to actually ask him out. He was _so_ looking forward to the Ball. Of course, he would have to make sure that Hermione looked perfect for him. He'd have to check her outfit, shoes, hair…


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Before and During the Ball**

Hermione was still staring at the spot where Draco had turned the corner, looking extremely punch drunk, when Harry and Ron came out of their hiding spot to heartily congratulate her on the successful attempt at asking Draco out.

Ron and Harry started walking to the Common Room, and had gone about ten feet when they noticed that Hermione was not with them, and when they looked back, saw that Hermione had not moved.

"Hermione?"

Just as Ron and Harry started walking towards Hermione rather than away from her, she swayed on the spot and fell with a 'thunk' on the floor, unconscious.

"Ah," said Ron, failing at his pitiful attempt to look wise as they picked Hermione off the floor. "young love."

Harry snorted.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, Master Matchmaker."

When they finally reached the Head's Dorm, after many complaints from both Ron and Harry about how much they preferred Hermione when she was lighter, they were faced with yet another obstacle: they hadn't a clue as to what the password was.

"This is just bloody great," grumbled Ron, setting Hermione's feet on the ground and massaging his abused arms. "first we have to carry Hermione here almost halfway across the castle, and now we don't know the stupid password!"

"Relax, Ron," said Harry, trying to soothe his incredibly hot-headed and short-tempered friend. "we could knock. Maybe Draco'll let us in."

Ron grunted.

Harry knocked on the portrait a couple of times before he heard a voice, Malfoy's, shouting something from inside. The portrait, which looked thoroughly displeased at having been knocked on, opened, and Draco's head popped out.

"-forgot the password? You're supposed to be smart-"

Just then, she saw Hermione slumped against the wall against Ron and Harry and Draco's pale face paled even more. Wordlessly, she held the portrait open so that Ron and Harry could bring Hermione in. They dumped her on the plush maroon couch in front of the fireplace and Ron sat down by her head, moaning and rubbing his arms. "Finally, we got rid of that load of potatoes," he said, jerking his thumb to Hermione.

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "she's actually much heavier than she looks."

"Well," said Draco silkily, having recovered from the shock of seeing Hermione unconscious. "did you two ever think of _levitating_ her?"

A pregnant pause followed wherein you could hear the gears of Ron and Harry's minds click slowly into place.

"Uh, right. Didn't think of that one."

A couple of uncomfortable minutes for Harry and Ron paused. They didn't know if it was just their imagination, or perhaps guilt, but to them, Draco's stare looked somewhat… accusing, like he blamed them for what happened to Hermione.

"Okay," said Ron, rising from his seat. "we'll go now."

"Wait a minute," said Draco, just as they were about to leave. "what happened to Hermione?"

Harry paused, one foot already out of the door and into the corridor and looked at Draco. "You did," he said simply, and disappeared.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

Hermione groaned and sat up, rubbing the crust from around her eyes off. She moved her hand to the sore lump behind her head and winced.

_What happened last night? Last thing I remember was that I asked Draco to the dance and he said yes… wait a minute, he said yes! Yay for me!_

She looked around her and immediately recognized the familiar walls and décor of the Head's Dorm. She also saw that a warm blanket had been tucked around her snugly, and wondered if Draco had done that. At the thought of Draco, her insides squirmed uncomfortably.

Her thoughts about Draco, however, were interrupted by a knock on the portrait. She made her way to the portrait unsteadily as Ron had been rather careless about handling her legs the night before. When the portrait swung open, Ron and Harry appeared, wearing cloaks, scarves, and gloves.

"Why are you guys all dressed up?" asked Hermione.

"Didn't we tell you, 'Mione?" asked Ron. "we're going to Hogsmeade today!"

"Right… but it isn't even a Hogsmeade weekend and what are we going to do there? Can't you guys curb your urge for Butterbeer?"

"Oh," said Harry. "well, we could use the secret passage to Honeydukes and out of here and well, I was hoping to get something for, erm-"

"He's gonna get something for Ginny."

"Thanks a lot mate. Really."

But Hermione lent them only half an ear, too immersed in her own thoughts. It would be lovely if she got something for Draco. Flowers, or chocolate maybe?

"-so, d'you want to come?"

"Uh, sure. Let me just go get dressed."

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0b**

After around three hours later, Hermione came back to the Head's Dorm, a tad bit exhausted. Harry had been extremely un-Harry like and fussy when it came to getting Ginny something. Flowers and chocolate were too common, a broomstick that Ron had pointed out had been 'too unromantic', a jar of octopus tentacles was too weird, etc., etc. Hermione, on the other hand, had been in luck and had found the perfect thing to give Draco before the dance.

When Hermione got back, though, she wished that she hadn't. an extremely scary sight met her eyes. It appeared to be a green faced monster wrapped in a white terrycloth, with pink, abnormal and not to mention gross growths coming out from its fingers and toes.

"Ah!" screamed Hermione, backing into the portrait opening behind her. "Stay away from me, you otherworldly freak!"

"Yeah, that's a real nice way to treat your date to the ball," said the 'monster' rolling its eyes. "Really, I'm _so_ flattered."

"Draco?"

"What?"

"Is that you?"

"Duh."

"Oh," Apparently, Draco had his beautifying face mask on and had those weird Styrofoam thingies that you put on when applying nail polish/. Weird.

"Well," said Hermione, after staring to make sure that Draco was who he really said he was. "I'm going to head to my room now-"

"Oh no you don't," said Draco threateningly.

"Why not?"

"Well," said Draco, rather crossly. "we've got to make sure you look perfect for tonight."

Hermione gaped at him. "Draco, the ball is still hours away!"

"So?"

Hermione stared at him disbelievingly.

"Let's go get you ready!"

And thus, with those five words of doom, Hermione was sentenced to hours upon hours of merciless torture. Her eyebrows got plucked, her hair shampooed, conditioned and dried, and many other torture procedures that were so terrible, so painful, that Hermione chose not to remember them in detail.

At present, Hermione was in her room, donning the robe that Draco had picked for her, as he had been thoroughly disappointed in the robe that Hermione had picked herself. Draco was in his room, taking care of some last minute details that Hermione was sure would take him a long time to smoothen out.

So, Hermione went to the Common Room and waited… and waited… and waited. Finally, Draco came out, and Hermione, who was busy picking a loose strand on the sofa, froze. Draco looked…absolutely mesmerizing. His dress was made of a black, gauzy material that reminded Hermione of mist at midnight. Occasionally, sparkles caught the light on the dress, enhancing the enchanting effect even more. The rich black color of the dress contrasted beautifully with Draco's pale skin and hair, but greatly complimented his stormy gray eyes.

Hermione looked magnificent too. Her dress robes were a rich red (ever the true Gryffindor) and it looked good on her. Draco's eyes traveled down (**_not_** what you are thinking) , saw the shoes Hermione was wearing and shrieked suddenly.

"What on earth are you wearing Hermione?" asked Draco panickily, looking at Hermione's shoes. "Those things are horrible!"

"Well sorry if I'm not _really_ a guy, and if I don't own any good shoes. I forgot to buy some."

"Forgot? _Forgot?!_ What do you mean _forgot?_ Wait there!" with that, Draco rushed into his room, leaving a confused, and rather scared Hermione behind.

When Draco came back, he was holding a pair of extremely expensive looking pair of shoes. "Here, Salvatorre Ferragamo."

"Isn't Salvatorre Ferragamo a Muggle?" asked Hermione as they walked down the hallway on the way to the Great Hall.

"I don't care if it's a Muggle shoe," sniffed Draco. "mother buys Muggle brands all the time. Louis Vuitton, Manolos, Burberry. You know."

"Oh?"

"Of course. The rich never let blood discrimination get in the way of fashion."

By now, the pair had reached the heavy, oaken double doors of the Great Hall, the sound of a hired band, tinkling glass and laughing voices inaudibly floating from behind the door. The torch brackets on either side of the door frame cast a warm yellow glow on Draco and Hermione.

Just before Draco held out a hand to push open the door, Hermione cleared her throat, shuffling her feet uncomfortably.

"What?" asked Draco, wondering if it was just a trick of the yellow light, or if Hermione was turning red naturally, for some reason.

"Well, uh, I sort of got you something…"

"…"

"Here… hang on," digging into the pockets of the jeans she was wearing under her dress robes. She pulled out a necklace with a pendant and handed it to Draco, her cheeks flushed and refusing to look at him.

"Wow," said Draco, holding up the necklace. The chain was made of white gold and was finely done, so much so that you could hardly make out the individual links. The pendant was also white gold and was shaped like a heart. Tiny chips of onyx were encrusted upon the pendant surface, reflecting the torchlight.

When Hermione finally looked at Draco, she saw that Draco was looking up at her (she was taller now) smiling, his eyes sparkling. "Thanks."

Unexpectedly, a warm, tingly feeling engulfed Hermione, a feeling that made her want to always please Draco, to give Draco stuff that would make Draco look at her like that again.

"Could you put it on me?" asked Draco, holding out the necklace to Hermione, his eyes the same color of the white gold chain that was in his hand.

"P-put it on y-you?"

"Yeah, that's sort of what you're supposed to do when you give a girl a necklace," said Draco, the corners of his mouth upturning slightly at Hermione's cluelessness.

"I dunno… my hands are kind of big."

"So? Afraid you might 'accidentally' strangle me?"

"…"

"Just put it on."

Hermione took the pendant from Draco and fumbled with it for a bit, looking for the lock. She then stepped behind Draco, feeling as though an extremely bright spotlight and the eyes of a million people were trained on her, even though the only people in the corridor at the moment were Draco and Hermione, and the light was dim. Her hands trembling, Hermione clumsily fastened the delicate chain around Draco's just as delicate neck.

"All done," beamed Hermione, privately glad that that ordeal was finally done and over with.

Draco turned around to face Hermione, fingering the pendant. Their eyes locked. "Thanks."

Hermione watched Draco's face inch slowly closer, watched his eyes flutter close.

Just then, the door banged open and both of them pulled back as quick as lightning as Ron walked out, a cream pasty in his mouth and hand.

"Hey guys," he said, spotting Draco and Hermione, bits of cream pasty spraying out of his mouth. While Ron hastily wiped the cream build-up at the corners of his mouth with his sleeve, Draco and Hermione looked at each other, the romantic moment broken. Hermione sighed. Oh well, that was good while it lasted.

"So… let's go in. shall we?" asked Hermione, holding out her arm to Draco.

"Sure. Let's," said Draco, taking Hermione's proffered arm as they made their way into the Great Hall. As soon as they saw the inside, they froze, gaping openly at their surroundings.

"Wow."

The Great Hall looked like it was completely underwater, with magic induced bubbles coming out of the floor every once in a while. The light that the moon shone from the ceiling cast a rippling light on the Hall and all its occupants, and even though the air seemed slightly wet, everyone was perfectly dry, except for the occasional sweaty dancer.

Mermaids (pretty ones), swam a few feet above the enthralled students. A few members of the male popularity were staring at the mermaids. They stopped staring, though, as their jealous girlfriends elbowed them, or did something equally physically painful. Enchanted schools of silver fish flitted around everybody's feet, their shiny scales reflecting the light cast by the stationary glowing clumps of bubbles that were scattered around the room.

The Prefects and Heads had not been able to see the effect of all their decorating because the spells had been put into effect by the teachers a few hours before the dance.

"I know I'm good, just not exactly how bloody good," breathed Draco, still taking in everything. Suddenly, he started dancing around Hermione, clapping his hands gleefully, looking rather like Kreacher when he had told Harry that Sirius had gone to the Department of Mysteries.

"Yeah," said Hermione, coming out of her stupor "yeah we are!" she said, dancing around too. "Give me five!" exclaimed Hermione, holding out her hand expectantly at Draco.

Draco stared at her outstretched hand. "Five what? Galleons?"

"No."

"…"

"Never mind… Muggle thing."

"Ohh."

They watched the mermaids for a while, then "Do you want to dance?"

Draco looked at Hermione, who was rather red and nervous looking. Draco nodded, and they made their way to the dance floor, where some other couples were dancing.

Hermione watched the rippling light dance on Draco's almost-as-pale hair and stormy eyes and could not help wondering what could have happened if Ron had not chosen that moment to appear.

"You look really nice tonight Hermione."

Hermione was startled out of her thoughts suddenly. "Yeah, you look good too, like er, a girl."

"I should hope so," Draco said, smiling at her.

Hermione sighed. Why wasn't anything that came out of her mouth right? It seemed that her whole body was turning traitor on her.

"Right… well d'you want anything to drink?" the song had stopped playing and the people who were dancing had left for their tables. The people left behind stood awkwardly, waiting for the next song to play.

"Sure, I'll just wait for you at that table over there," said Draco, pointing to a nearby table.

Hermione walked to the punch table, wondering what on earth she and Draco would talk about when she went back. Harry was there, pouring out two glasses of punch but was spilling most of it. Hermione saw a red smudge of something on Harry's cheek.

Harry didn't even notice Hermione when she arrived at the punch table. When he realized that the cups he were filling were full, he trotted off to the table where Ginny was sitting like a loyal, happy puppy. Hermione made a mental note to herself to tell Dumbledore to keep Ginny away from the battlefield when Voldemort and Harry were going to kill each other.

She sighed again, remembering how Ron had interrupted she and Draco earlier. All throughout the Ball, she saw Ron dogging Harry and Ginny's every step, dragging his unfortunate date along with him.

"Hermione!" cried out a familiar voice. "You're spilling punch all over the place!" Hermione looked down, and sure enough, there was a puddle of red punch on the tablecloth and was slowly dripping into another puddle on the floor.

"Are you alright?" asked Draco, looking at her queerly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just… thinking is all." Draco still looked doubtful and suggested they go out for a while.

When they got out, away from all the noise in the Hall, Zabini was ther, apparently waiting for them. Ignoring Hermione completely, he took Draco by the elbow and started talking animatedly to him.

Hermione ground her teeth. Zabini was such a boil. A boil that she itched to burst with a pin. She went to where Zabini was and stepped between him and Draco.

"Hey Draco, why don't we go to that bench under the willow tree there? After all, you _are_ my date. You're lucky you're my date too, and didn't agree to go with some oily bastard. Did you hear that he cried for days?" she looked over her shoulder and saw Zabini glaring furiously at her. "Oh, _so_ sorry Zabini, I didn't see you there."

When Zabini had stomped off in a rage, Draco and Hermione strolled on the grassy ground a few feet away from the lake. They made their way to a willow tree that was just beside the water's edge. It seemed to be glowing from inside

Hermione parted the willow's leaves and saw that behind the green curtain, several capiz lamps had been hung.

"Would you believe that Snape was in charge of decorating this place-?" Draco asked Hermione.

"Snape?! No way."

"-because he didn't."

Draco burst into peals of laughter and Hermione soon joined in, even though the joke wasn't really _that_ funny. Draco, gasping for air, looked at Hermione.

Suddenly, his light grey eyes widened. "Oh. My. God. Hermione, what's happening to your face?!"


End file.
